We are overrun by gun crime, says police chief

A chief Constable admitted yesterday that his officers are being forced to ignore thousands of burglaries, thefts and car crimes because they are swamped by increasing drug and gun violence.

The public's perception that the police were not interested in low-level and non-violent crime was underlined when Steve Green, Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire police, said there was not enough money or officers available to investigate all crime.

The emergence of Britain's drug and gun culture had impacted on his force to such an extent that "something had to give".

This year there has been on average more than one shooting every week in Nottinghamshire.

Last week Marian Bates, 64, was shot and killed as she attempted to fend off a raid at her shop in the Arnold district, and on Wednesday 60-year-old Amratlal Kanabar was shot dead in his car just over the Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire force border.

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Although technically a Nottinghamshire police inquiry, they have been forced to hand it over to Leicestershire because they are so over-stretched.

Mr Green said: "The rise in violent crime and the necessary investigations cannot continue without consequences for other areas of policing. The impact will be on volume crime, such as burglaries. I am confident we can still reduce volume crime, but we won't be able to reduce it as much as we want.

"There is clear evidence that we are a county police force dealing with big-city problems."

Nottinghamshire had suffered more than other cities and was being forced, as Mr Green put it, to "punch above its weight" with, in 2002-03, 2,435 officers tackling 161,404 offences.

Merseyside suffered 163,166 crimes, but had nearly double the amount of police to deal with them. Last year West Mercia had to deal with 55,000 fewer crimes than Nottinghamshire with virtually the same amount of officers.

Mr Green was cool on the idea of arming police, but said he supported the establishment of a dedicated team of officers to deal solely with gun crime.

Yesterday the Nottinghamshire police authority convened for an emergency meeting, called after the murder of Mrs Bates, to agree to press David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, for extra funding.

John Clarke, the authority chairman, said the force was reaching crisis point. He said: "We need this extra policing. Nottingham has grown as a city and as a region. With the place becoming a hen and stag party centre, there are 150,000 people in the city centre on a Saturday night and 40 officers to control them.

"There are good road links and as the region was never really hit by the recession so there is quite a lot of affluence around, with prosperous people from the city and country moving in, and a lot of building going up. Unfortunately that attracts the darker side of life.

"Across the UK - and they may not see it yet - is a gun crime emergency coming big, fast and furiously at us.

"We clearly have a special case to go to London and convince the Home Secretary to put more money into Nottinghamshire."

With the Inspectorate of Constabulary currently assessing Nottinghamshire's performance, Mrs Bates's murder could hardly have come at a worse time for Mr Green, who is under increasing pressure following a previously poor report.

Four people arrested in connection with the stolen motorcycle used in the Marian Bates murder were released on bail yesterday.